On Aristotle Physics 8.6-10 Simplicius ; translated by Richard McKirahan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Simplicius, of Cilicia, author.

Contributor:

McKirahan, Richard D., editor.

Series:

Ancient commentators on Aristotle

Standardized Title:

Commentarii in octo Aristotelis Physicae auscultationis libros. 8. English

Language:

English

Greek, Ancient (to 1453)

Subjects (All):

Aristotle. Physics--Book 8.

Aristotle.

Science, Ancient.

Physics--Early works to 1800.

Physics.

Motion--Early works to 1800.

Motion.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (247 pages) : illustrations.

Other Title:

Simplicius on Aristotle's "Physics 8.6-10"

Place of Publication:

Ithaca, N.Y. Cornell University Press 2001.

Summary:

"Aristotle's Physics is about the causes of motion and culminates in a proof that God is needed as the ultimate cause of motion. Aristotle argues that things in motion need to be moved by something other than themselves -- he rejects Plato's self-movers. On pain of regress, there must be an unmoved mover. If this unmoved mover is to cause motion eternally, it needs infinite power. It cannot, then, be a body, since bodies, being of finite size, cannot house infinite power. The unmoved mover is therefore an incorporeal God. Simplicius reveals that his teacher, Ammonius, harmonised Aristotle with Plato to counter Christian charges of pagan disagreement, by making Aristotle's God a cause of beginningless movement, but of beginningless existence of the universe. Eternal existence, not less than eternal motion, calls for an infinite, and hence incorporeal, force. By an irony, this anti-Christian interpretation turned Aristotle's God from a thinker into a certain kind of Creator, and so helped to make Aristotle's God acceptable to St Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century. This text provides a translation of Simplicius' commentary on Aristotle's work."--Bloomsbury Publishing

Contents:

Preface

Introduction

Textual Emendations

TRANSLATION

Notes

Bibliography English-Greek

Glossary Greek-English Index

Index of Passages Cited

Subject

Index

Notes:

Series taken from jacket

Includes bibliographical references (pages 182-183) and indexes

Electronic reproduction. London : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014. Available via World Wide Web. Access limited by licensing agreement

Other Format:

Original

ISBN:

9781472552396

OCLC:

922786430